Finding the perfect piece of furniture for a certain space can be a challenge. Whether you are scouring thrift stores or are having a custom piece created from Bassett Furniture, it’s likely to take a lot of time to get it just right.

I always have a list of items I am looking for a thrift stores.  Currently, that list includes a wooden chair to be reupholstered, a footed side table of some sort (maybe round?) and a sideboard or long dresser – all pieces for my master bedroom redo.  I’m also looking for cheap (i.e. less than $5) wooden chairs that I can use for another project, hopefully to be completed this summer.

Our seventh wedding anniversary was this past Monday, and Tom and I decided to treat ourselves to a fancy, new LED flat screen TV for the bedroom.  We used to never spend time in the bedroom watching TV, so our huge, ugly TV was fine.  But, since we discovered that watching TV in our bedroom instead of the living room in the evenings keeps the kids from waking up once we’ve put them to bed (yeah, it took us FIVE YEARS to figure that one out!), we wanted a brand new TV.

So, the sideboard or dresser I’ve been wanting has been moved to the top of the list.  I don’t want the new TV to hang on the wall, so I need a great piece of furniture for it to call home.  I want the piece to be long and I don’t want it to be too tall.  And yeah, I want it to be cheap since I will likely be refinishing it somehow.

Yesterday, Emma and I set off on my first thrifting adventure in ages.  We found a few pieces that may work:

At stop number 1, we found this piece.  If you look past the honey colored wood, the mismatched drawer pulls, and the eleventy billion price stickers, you’ll see that it has a fun shape.  The drawers were a little wonky, so they’d need some work.  I think this one was $80, which is more than I wanted to spend on something Tom is going to have to fix.

Stop number 2 introduced me to this piece.  It’s very nice and will likely not need any work at all.  For a vintage piece in this condition, it’s a steal at $80.  But, I don’t think it’s quite long enough for my space.

I found this piece at stop 3 and I LOVE it.  I’m totally gaga over it, actually.  Imagine it painted gray with all of that fun detailing glazed black.  I think I’d even keep the pulls, but I’d definitely lose the mirror.  Sadly, it’s $125.  This store would probably work with me a little bit on the price, but I don’t know how much lower they’d go.  If I’m still thinking about her after the weekend, I think she may be the one – and if fate would have it and she’s still there.  A lot of my thrifting decisions are based on fate, as you’ll see below.

Then, I found her at stop 4.  She’s perfect – and only $25.  I kid you not – $25.  There are shelves behind the right hand doors and drawers behind the left.  I stupidly decided to run it by Tom to see if he liked it – and it was gone by the time I went back to get it this morning.  ::Shakes fist at universe::

SQUEAL WORTHY UPDATE: My husband went after work and bought Dresser #3 for me.  I could die.  Man, I have the world’s best husband.

Anyway, I’ve now learned not to ever walk away from a great piece at a perfect price.  Live and learn, my friends, live and learn.  But, do you know doesn’t have to worry about walking away from such an awesome deal?  Suzanne, that’s who!

A HUGE congrats and oh-my-gosh-I-wish-I-was-you goes out to Commenter 124, Suzanne from Meridian Road, for being the randomly selected winner of the Bassett Furniture $500 giftcard.  What a win, girl!  You need to be doing the world’s biggest happy dance!

Thanks again to Bassett Furniture for the amazing giveaway and gorgeous furniture options.  Going custom is seriously the best way to find a perfect piece of furniture.  Otherwise, you’ll be just like me – running all over town in search of something that may not even exist!

My master bedroom is a gorgeous space with a huge bay window, but I close the door whenever we have company over.  Why?  Perhaps it’s the bare box springs with no bedskirt on the bed.  Or the curtains that no longer hang right because the dog has basically pulled them down (he likes to sleep behind them).  Maybe it’s the mismatched furniture or just the lack of decorating all together.

At any rate, it’s time to be a big girl and quit hiding my bedroom in shame.  This spring, my husband and I are working into finally turning “our” space, the only space without plastic toys and Lightening McQueen DVDs, into a space that we love.  We have a series of projects to complete, and they run the gambit from painting, to restoring, to construction.  I plan to detail them all here, step-by-step, so that you can follow along – unless they totally fail, and then I’ll just pretend they didn’t happen.

At the beginning of any major room redesign, you have to start with your inspiration.  My inspiration began with a pattern.

Perhaps chevrons are passe and completely overdone in design magazines and on blogs.  You know what?  Who cares.  I don’t live in a magazine and my bedroom is completely unlikely to ever grace the pages of one.  We may end up opting for another bold pattern instead of a chevron, but this sort of geometry plays heavily into my plans.  And because my husband is an engineering nerd with a penchant for over thinking everything, it’s likely going to be heavy on time, too.

Then, there’s this pot holder.  Have you ever been inspired by something so odd?

I spotted it at Anthropologie (of course, I did), and fell in love with the colors.  I was searching for a bold color that looked great with dark gray and white.  Yellow was the first thing that popped into mind, but I thought maybe another color would look better.  Still I was drawn to the yellow.  Then, Rhoda convinced me that it was a color combo that’s been en vogue for many years and not to worry about it – again, who cares what’s too trendy and overdone?  Thanks, Rhoda!

I brought the potholder home and worked on my color palate for the room.  This is what I came up with:

And so it begins.  It’s definitely not my usual color choices – no brown, no blue.  I’m ready for a change, though, and I’m very excited to get started!  Of course, this change may well embolden me to redecorate the whole house, but that sounds like a fun challenge!

What about you?  Are you looking for a bold change or do you like subtle changes in your home?  Do you find inspiration in really odd things, like pot holders?